I haven’t really talked much about my Analogue Pocket. I got it a month or two back, when they were advertising the retro translucent cases. Back in the day, translucent was a thing. Anyway, it plays Gameboy, Gameboy Color and Gameboy Advance games out of the box, PC card, Neo Geo Pocket, and Neo Geo Pocket Color with adapters, and consoles from the Intellivision to the Bandai Wonderswan (and many, many more, even Super Nintendo) using their OpenFPGA architecture.
I bring it with me anywhere I think I’m going to be looking at old game cartridges. We had the Connecticon Fandom Flea this last weekend in Hartford. I thought I might find some used games there, and I was right. I picked up LEGO Racing and NAMCO Museum, both for the Gameboy Advance.
We weren’t stopping there. We went from there to lunch (Arby’s!) and then off to the Retro Game store in Newington, where I found this treasure – The Hobbit, for the GBA.
The Hobbit vaguely follows the plot of the book (and in that, it follows it a lot better than the actual trilogy of movies managed). Bilbo, a Hobbit with no particular goals other than to enjoy life, is thrust into adventure by the wizard Gandalf and a baker’s dozen of dwarves.
From what I remember, it was based on a story Tolkien wrote to his young son as he (JRR) was fighting abroad in World War I. It isn’t nearly as dark and grim as modern retellings would have it.
You play Bilbo, and most of the time, you’re playing alone. The dwarves (and Gandalf) tend to scurry ahead of you, leaving you to slowly work your way to them through hordes of nasty critters. I think the only time Bilbo actually fought anything in the book was a spider in Mirkwood? But here, he is absolutely vicious with his walking-stick, and later his magical dagger “Sting”.
And rather than the first test of his burgling prowess being sneaking around Smaug’s lair, in this game, he is sent to scout ahead for traps, caves and other dangers and to report back. It doesn’t seem these dwarfs are really capable of much, and I have no idea how they made their way to Hobbiton without drowning in a puddle or tripping on a stone and breaking their necks.
It’s been called too easy for adults and too hard for kids, and too grindy for anyone. I don’t agree with any of those things. The game is generous about giving you consumables you need, when you need them. Food (for healing) is plentiful. The boss fights are innovative and fun (if not really true to the source material). Most battles are easily won by slashing wildly with Sting. The dungeons are tricky and contain puzzles.
And you even get a ring that lets you go invisible for a few seconds. What fun!
If you loved The Hobbit and can play Gameboy Advance games somehow, pick it up. It’s fun and moves quickly through the book. But don’t trust the elves.